In the fast-evolving world of fintech, leadership demands more than technical expertise, it requires vision, adaptability, and a deep understanding of people and markets. For Dinuki Karunatilake, Head of KOKO, these qualities have been central to her journey, guiding her as she leads one of Sri Lanka’s most dynamic digital finance platforms.

Dinuki’s path into fintech was unconventional. With a background in finance, she joined KOKO at its early stages, stepping into a startup environment where roles were fluid and every team member was expected to go beyond traditional job descriptions. “KOKO was my first job, and my background was in finance, but being in a startup environment meant stepping into whatever the business needed,” she recalls. This involved immersing herself in the business plan, understanding customer behavior, making product decisions, and even grasping the operational trade-offs and technological logic behind the app.

Such holistic engagement, she notes, is where women leaders can make a unique impact in technology and financial services. By widening organizational thinking, women can help teams make decisions that are both commercially sound and grounded in practical realities. “The best leaders in fintech cannot think in silos. You need to understand risk, customer behaviour, technology, and growth all at once,” she explains. This cross-functional approach is increasingly vital in digital finance, where rapid innovation and customer-centric solutions drive competitive advantage.

For Dinuki, leadership confidence has been cultivated in high-stakes, fast-moving environments. During KOKO’s early days, she was part of a small team making hundreds of decisions weekly, with a high degree of trust from the leadership of both Daraz and KOKO. These formative experiences taught her that confidence does not always stem from having the right answer, especially in start-up environments where many decisions are really experiments. Confidence stems from the ability to make decisions with the information available, execute effectively, and adjust quickly. “I do not believe confidence comes before responsibility, more often confidence grows because responsibility is given,” she observes, emphasizing that empowering teams, especially women, means giving them ownership and trusting their judgment.

This philosophy extends to how she mentors others. She actively encourages her team members to think independently, challenge assumptions, and take ownership of outcomes. For Dinuki, fostering leadership is not just about guiding people in their current roles but understanding their ambitions, growth potential, and learning desires. This approach helps align individual development with organizational goals, creating resilient and high-performing teams.

In addition to nurturing leadership,  Dinuki is at the forefront of redefining leadership culture in high-growth digital businesses. Modern leadership, she asserts, relies heavily on empathy, collaboration, and adaptability. “Strong leadership is also about understanding people beyond the role they are in today. It is about seeing where they want to grow, what they want to learn, and sometimes even recognising ambitions they may not yet have fully articulated themselves,” she says.

Empathy, she clarifies, is not a sign of softness; rather, it is a strategic tool for aligning teams, navigating change, and fostering environments where individuals feel both supported and challenged. Women leaders often develop these skills naturally, having had to build influence through credibility, listening, and alignment rather than hierarchy alone, traits that become particularly valuable in fast-growing digital businesses.

Beyond leadership, Dinuki is driving financial inclusion through KOKO’s innovative Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) solution. While BNPL is often associated with convenience, KOKO’s mission is broader: expanding financial inclusion through access to structured credit. In Sri Lanka, while smartphone adoption is high, only about 10% of the population holds credit cards. This leaves many young adults, especially between 18 and 35, without meaningful access to formal credit.

KOKO’s platform addresses this gap by offering instant digital credit through a simple app interface without paperwork, collateral, or branch visits. At the same time, the company emphasizes responsible lending. Users typically start with a smaller credit limit, which may grow based on repayment behavior, and flexible features like rescheduling installments or waiving late fees are designed to encourage accountability without causing financial stress. Financial literacy initiatives further complement this approach, helping young consumers develop healthy credit habits. “Ultimately, KOKO is about giving a digitally native generation a simple, responsible, and structured entry point into formal credit,” Dinuki notes.

Looking ahead, Dinuki sees both enormous opportunities and critical responsibilities for the BNPL sector. Emerging markets present fertile ground for growth, as structured credit remains limited and digital financial solutions can serve as entry points to broader financial systems. However, scaling responsibly is essential. As adoption increases, regulatory oversight, consumer protection, and ethical lending practices will become even more important.

KOKO positions itself strategically for this future by focusing on long-term sustainability over short-term growth. Strengthening merchant partnerships, enhancing credit decision-making with robust data insights, and continually improving the customer experience are all part of this strategy. For Dinuki, the future of digital finance will belong to those companies that balance innovation with responsibility, creating platforms that consumers and partners can trust.

Dinuki’s journey at KOKO underscores a larger truth: that the intersection of visionary leadership and innovative financial solutions can drive profound societal impact. By blending deep operational understanding, empathetic team leadership, and a commitment to responsible financial inclusion, she exemplifies how women leaders are shaping the future of fintech in Sri Lanka and beyond.

In a sector defined by rapid change, her approach illustrates that success is not only about technological innovation but also about cultivating leadership that is adaptive, inclusive, and deeply human.